Jim Plumer was introduced Tuesday as the University of Vermont's new women's hockey coach. / TED RYAN, for the Free Press

Written by

Jim Plumer built an NCAA championship women’s hockey program at Amherst College. Now he’s tasked with the same challenge with the University of Vermont.

“We’ve committed to building a women’s hockey program which will compete for Hockey East and NCAA championships,” said Vermont director of athletics Bob Corran as he introduced Plumer as the Catamounts’ new head coach Tuesday in the Bostwick Room at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Plumer succeeds Tim Bothwell, who resigned in March after six seasons during which Vermont compiled records of 40-138-21 overall and 21-84-11 in Hockey East.

“When I considered other opportunities in the past ... (there were) two prerequisites for me,” Plumer said. “It had to be a place that I wanted to live and it had to be a place that I thought could be nationally competitive. Quite honestly, this was a home run for both of those items.

“Part of my attraction to the program is the opportunity to build a championship culture here,” Plumer said.

After serving as an assistant coach at Bowdoin College, Plumer became the head coach of Division III Amherst in the 2003-04 season. In 2007-08, Amherst went 20-4-4 overall, 12-0-4 in the NESCAC and won the first of successive NCAA Division III championships. His 2008-09 team was 16-0-0 in the NESCAC and 24-5-0 overall with the second NCAA title. In his eight seasons at Amherst, Plumer was 158-69-19.

This past season, the Lord Jeffs were 21-6-1 overall and 13-2-1 in the league, losing in the NCAA quarterfinals to Norwich.

“We’re all just really excited,” said Erin Wente, a junior forward and team captain for the Catamounts.

“To me, it was just his plan for such competitive practices and how he wants to go about communicating with players, his openness,” said Wente, who said the team had the opportunity to meet with the four finalists.

“I’ve know Jim for awhile,” said Amanda Pelkey, a freshman forward from Montpelier. “When he walked into the room (today), everybody felt comfortable with him.

“The biggest thing is he answered every question perfectly,” said Pelkey, also citing Plumer’s perspective on creating a competitive culture and requiring personal accountability as key factors.

“Those are the two biggest things I think our team needs and he’s going to be the leader that’s going to do that,” Pelkey said.

Of moving from Division III to Division I, Plumer said, “I think the coaching part and the hockey part aren’t any (different) at all. The way we treat student-athletes and the way we teach them the game I think is going to be the same.”

However, he said, the rules and compliance issues as well as some aspects of recruiting will be new challenges. He pointed out that he recruited many players to Amherst who were prospective Division I players but said he expects to do more recruiting in Canada and internationally at Vermont. “This is a place that will attract great players from anywhere,” he said.

On the ice, Plumer said he expects his team to be aggressive in every zone and fast. “Women’s hockey by its nature and without checking can allow for fast puck movement. We’re going to play a fast game; we’re going to look to move the puck fast and we’re going to look to skate fast,” he said.

He stressed that open and honest communication with the student-athletes builds trust on both sides. “We’re looking to be positive but realistic. If there is a two-way level of trust, I think we can accomplish great things,” he said.

The Catamounts were 4-22-6 overall and 3-16-2 in Hockey East over the winter in a season sabotaged by injuries as well as internal team turmoil that led to Bothwell’s resignation. UVM has one recruit, defenseman Dayna Kolang of Fairbanks, Alaska, and the North American Hockey Academy, and one transfer, sophomore forward Sarah Campell (New Hampshire), joining a roster that had only two seniors.

Corran said he could not put a timetable on improvement in the team’s performance except to say it was expected “sooner rather than later.”

Asked what he hoped he could say a year from now, Plumer responded, “I’d like to say we overachieved.”

“It’s hard to put an exact number on that. We want to look at the talent level that we have and say, ‘Let’s be better than we thought we can do.’ If we make that stride, it’s going to be so important to gaining confidence,” he said.

“These guys have been so close with these one-goal games and these ties. ... If just a few of those games go the other way, maybe I’m not even standing here,” he pointed out.

Corran said the futures of associate head coach Grant Kimball and assistant coach Mike Gilligan would rest with Plumer, who said he planned to talk with both men soon.